European Kingdoms

Celtic Tribes

Segusini
(Gauls)

In
general terms, the Romans
coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the
Celtic tribes of what is now
central, northern and eastern
France. The Gauls were
divided from the Belgae
to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south
by the River Garonne, and they also extended into
Switzerland, northern
Italy, and along the Danube.
By the middle of the first century BC, there was a cluster of smaller tribes
in the Alpine region of western Switzerland and the French/Italian border.
This included the Segusini, who were located in the Cottian Alps. They were
neighboured by the Ceutrones
to the north, the Tricastii
and Caturiges to the south,
and by the Allobroges to
the west.

The tribe's name has the same original basis as that of the
Segusiavi,
and is an easy one to break down. Remove the '-ini' plural suffixes to leave
'segus'. The root 'sego-' is common Celtic for 'victory' (and is also used
in all German tongues). The tribe were 'the victors', a very Celtic boast
of prowess and success in battle. Given their location, they may have had
an earlier relation to the relatively close Segusiavi.

Segusini territory is something that can be pinpointed with certainty. They
were based around the valley of Susa in Piedmont (from 'Segusio', the tribe's
oppidum), in the Cottian Alps of Cisalpine Gaul. Ptolemy stated that
Brigantium (modern Briançon in France) formed the westernmost limit of the
tribe.

Augustus determines that the Alpine tribes need to be pacified in order to
end their warlike behaviour, alternately attacking or extracting money from
Romans
who pass through the region, even when they have armies in tow. He wages a
steady, determined campaign against them, and in a period of ten years he
'pacifies the Alps all the way from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian seas'
(written by Augustus himself).

The Celtic tribes of the Western Alps were relatively small and
fairly fragmented, but they made up for that with a level of
belligerence and fighting ability that often stunned their major
opponents, including the Romans

14 BC

Emperor Augustus creates the province of Alpes Maritimae (the maritime, or
seaward, Alps). It has its capital at Cemenelum (modern Nice, although this
is switched in AD 297 to Civitas Ebrodunensium, modern Embrun). Segusio
becomes the capital of the province of Alpes Cottiae (the Cottian Alps). The
history of the Alpine region's population of
Celts is now tied to
that of the empire.